Unmanned aerial vehicle beyond visual line of sight control

An apparatus, comprising:

• a memory;
• and
• a processor configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to:
• while an unmanned aerial vehicle navigates under control of a first ground control station, predict a time at a visual line of sight event associated with one or more of the first ground control station or a second ground control station is expected;
• determine a handoff period for transferring control of the unmanned aerial vehicle to a second ground control station based on the predicted time;
• and
• initiate transfer of control of the unmanned aerial vehicle from the first ground control station to the second ground control station during the handoff period.

A non-transitory computer storage medium including instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

• predicting a time at which a visual line of sight event associated with an unmanned aerial vehicle and one or more of a first ground control station or a second ground control station is expected based on radio frequency signals associated with the first ground control station and the second ground control station;
• determining a handoff period for transferring control of the unmanned aerial vehicle from the first ground control station to the second ground control station based on the predicted time;
• and
• initiating transfer of control of the unmanned aerial vehicle from the first ground control station to the second ground control station during the handoff period.